you on that taut wire where
balance is required to achieve
success; yet today the net
won’t save your neck but
might serve to break it
the righteous pole that
once served your estate
and held you high above
adoring mobs now seems
so
degraded
that you have to
forsake your high flying
thrill act above them
and join in the
fracas below
since the wire’s gone
slack, and the flic-flac*
has lost its wow, it’s all
deception and trickery now
while the bully Australian
ringmaster
cracks the whip and once again
you take a dive
but not before
sex dazzles the crowd when
the man and woman on the flying
trapeze screen us from
all impending disasters
*flic-flac = A back handspring.
from Circopedia.com
© Gay Reiser Cannon * 2011 * All Rights Reserved
"yet today the net
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might serve to break it"
That hits hard and fast. Love it!
ooo i know what this one is about...smiles...how quickly we fall when we think we are above it all...some nice alliteration and rhymes through out gay...even some off rhymes like 'above them~join in'
ReplyDeleteYeah..I don't do much protest any more, but lately the whole bunch - on the left, in the middle, on the right just seem to have taken a dive into the shallow end.
ReplyDeleteThis is so direct in message the craft that lays the brickwork is invisible, but is of course, the foundation that makes it work, as brian notes above. Yes, the pole has been to the fishing hole once too often, the Aussie can't control his animals, and everyone else is just playin for the cash. Topical, true and a great showcase of free verse.
ReplyDeleteBread and circuses always the bribe offered - multilayer
ReplyDeleteThoughtful & yes, hard hitting. So well written..thank you Gay :)
ReplyDeleteI think that just about covers every crazy thing I have read in the last two weeks. Well done!
ReplyDeleteAs soon as we puff up the "I" we get an eye infection. ha! You brought to mind Phillipe Petit, the man who scaled the twin towers in the 70s. There is an amazing film you can get through Netflix, Man on a Wire. It's a documentary of the event. Wow.
ReplyDeleteThanks for this piece, it was engaging.
I saw that when I was preparing this. Thanks Brenda. I will write a little more about this after other folks read it. I am leaving it up for 1shotWednesday I think. It was an interesting construction for me. Thank you everyone for linking today @onestoppoetry, for your wonderful poems, and for supporting the brilliant Sam Peralta. And most of all thanks for coming by here and commenting on this little free verse piece.
ReplyDeleteGreat topical poem Gay. Love the word craft like" righteous pole " I had Don Henley's song - Dirty Laundry playing in my head when I read it.
ReplyDeleteBeen on a few protests in my time Gay, you've done a great job of putting us in the moment, taking the stand as the fracas becomes a farce beneath. Great stand and viewpoint, eloquently put in freeverse!
ReplyDeleteGreat extended metaphor-- excellent immediacy at work in this poem, which is one thing I think free verse always offers. xxxj
ReplyDeleteFascinating and well written. There are those that believe any publicity is better than no publicity at all. How blind they are!! Nicely expressed.
ReplyDeletebrilliant! i'm so tired of the tawdriness, aren't you?
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by, Gay-- let us all do tawdry's laundry. The hive mind is on opiates...xxxj
ReplyDeleteFun wordplays ("righteous pol") and excellent use of metaphor. A favorite line is "... the flic-flac / has lost its wow...."!
ReplyDeleteNice piece!
ReplyDeletePlus, I learned a new phrase: Flic-flac! :)
Flic-Flac is that the same as Tic-Tac..lol
ReplyDeleteLike how you removed the net
With each move they bet
As life can break your neck
On the swirling trek
just swinging though to say hi for OSW since i read earlier this week. hope you are well gay.
ReplyDeleteflic-flac! that's a mighty cool addition! once you think you're "all that" you'll most certainly fall..
ReplyDeleteLately the hypocrisy is alive and well, isn't it? Nice write.
ReplyDeleteAmen. When did it all start to slide into the muck?
ReplyDeleteGood one, Gay. Life as a circus, and we all perform the hire-wire act.
ReplyDeleteHello, great work and play on words.
ReplyDeleteWho would of thought a great poem would come of it all?
ReplyDeleteWell, somebody had to say it... and you certainly did. About time! And in poetry! Great...and good for you...
ReplyDeleteSmart and timely outrage at the fiddling while Rome burns. Good for you, a wonderful poem.
ReplyDeletethere is such a lot of balance required and so few manage to hold it...excellently penned gay
ReplyDeleteThat was really good! Even though I'm not familiar with the news item, it works really well as a metaphor for so many other things. :)
ReplyDeleteWell the Brits may have been spared Weiner's wiener, however, his was but the tip of the (ahem) iceberg. The entire press has been sinking steadily for quite some time into the yellow muck of journalism and none more so than those entities owned by Rupert Murdoch. The fourth estate have lost any nobility if they ever had it, in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteWell crafted, and so full of metaphors and double entendres... I really liked it, Gay!!
ReplyDeleteOh.. the rhymes and the word play... amazing!! It was like a true (yet poetic) portrayal of many a life.. a life that is made to appear like a circus by our excellent media - magnified to the Nth degree, so that when a plunge happens, one falls FLAT on the face!! *sigh*
Really very nicely written!! Kudos, my friend..
I agree with Mama Zen that the first stanza is super. "Flic-flac" is a neat addition, as is the entire theme of the circus highwire act. Excellent! :D
ReplyDeleteGay thank you for making this statement. Dammit I couldn't agree more on this and you've said it so well. Excellent piece. Just the kind of thing I like to read (and write...). Damn the Australian ringmaster... this is important poetry. We need more. Thank you.
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